These cold mornings, reverse does not fully engage.
after temp warms ,works ok. after replacing water pump, I may not adjusted shift rod correctly.Question is do I need to adjust shifting rod shorter or taller to more ingage reverse gear? thanks for helping

Not unless you really did some screwing on the shift rod when you took it off or replaced it. A simple adjustment of the shift cable should do the trick. It's just a matter of finding true neutral with the linkage.

the shift rod should not have an adjustment but the linkage will. it may be the grease in the shift arm is just cold and not allowing it to fully engage. get some synthetic grease and grease every fitting on the enging and it will help when its cold. my 82 175 johnson had that same problem and the grease change helped.
make sure too that the linkage is adjusted right.

thanks, I'll work with linkage. Mike,when replacing w/p
also replaced seals. screwed rod down to stop counting
turns and when replaced, did same.(screw rod to stop and backed out same # turns.)so I think yall are right on with linkage adjust.and grease appreciate the help
ben